Sina & Milk

Sina and Milk moved to Khon Kaen in search of a little more horizon. After Covid, both were working from home and began wondering why they still needed to live in Bangkok. “If we can work from home, we can be anywhere in the world,” they told me. For Milk, who grew up in Khon Kaen, the move was a return; for Sina, it was an arrival.

Both studied printmaking at Silpakorn University, where they met, but their practices took different directions. Sina later moved between contemporary art, graphic design, illustration, political activism and film, often using different tools to explore politics and culture. His solo exhibition Can’t We Recant? travelled from Bangkok to MAIELIE in Khon Kaen. Milk went on to work as an illustrator, but came to see art less as a technique than as a way to understand herself and to help others.

Before the shoot, they suggested meeting first at ALIEN Artspace, the independent space they opened in Khon Kaen in 2023. The name refers to otherness, to being slightly outside. Conceived as a place open to artists and practices that might not otherwise find space in the city, ALIEN also became a way for Sina and Milk to connect with other independent spaces and creative workers. They were frank that keeping an independent art space going in Khon Kaen remained difficult.

Where they took me next was almost the opposite: their home. Greeted by their three cats and a beer, I was startled by how organised and well-designed it was. “We used The Sims to design it,” Sina told me, half-jokingly. Unlike ALIEN, which is open to others, home is where they retreat and recharge.

Their lives and work have become increasingly intertwined over the years. They mentioned that being two means problems are easier to face, and there is always someone around to exchange ideas with. “Everything is easier when we do things together.”